While many an Arcane fan is beside themselves wondering whether or not Riot Games and Fortiche will release a longer, steamier director‘s cut of the Emmy award-winning Netflix series’ second and final season, others are doubled over laughing at how the series went above and beyond to censor queer relationships overseas.
In the broader context, LGBTQ events and media have faced significant challenges under China’s Xi Jinping administration, leading to the closure of queer events and a halt in activism. In terms of media representation, this has led to the editing of queer relationships from television shows to eliminate their portrayal. It sucks, and it extends its silly hand over the distribution of Arcane. In the aftermath of Arcane‘s finale, viewers in the West have taken to sharing clips displaying how Fortiche’s animated series, which prominently features a queer relationship at the center of its ensuing story, went about obfuscating them.
In turning a negative into a positive, fans are using overseas censorship of queer representation in Arcane as an opportunity to laugh at how it goes above and beyond to recontextualize relationships that are fundamentally queer into the age-old adage of people just being roommates. Exhibit A: Caitlyn Kiramann’s rebound with her subordinate, Maddie Nolen, at the start of the season’s second act.
Initially, the scene sees Caitlyn contemplating the descent of her fascism while Maddie tries to coax her back to bed. Given Maddie’s incessant neck kisses and the two being dressed in loose-fitting loungewear, the assumption is that they just got done making love. The scene’s introduction was pretty ingenious on the animators’ part by getting fans in an uproar from the previous act’s big moment, having Caitlyn and Vi’s grand opening and grand closing of their 20-minute relationship followed up by her seemingly moving on and coming to grips with her mistakes. Although the censored version of the scene still maintains those ideas, it does away with the macro and microexpressions and blocking that made the scene hit so hard for viewers.
my friend is showing me how arcane looks like in china and it’s so funny 😭 somehow they turned the scene of maddie and caitlyn into a bff sleepover LMAO pic.twitter.com/xKkqBNf2jo
— nattie • arcane spoilers (@mafuenat) November 25, 2024
Exhibit B: “Caitvi” and the curious absence of their physical intimacy. Similarly to Caitlyn’s scene with Maddie in act two, act three of Arcane sees her final scene with her Vi altered. The original scene has both characters cuddled close as they reaffirm their commitment to each other. Instead, the scene plays out far more awkwardly, removing either character from close-up shots and making them look like they are resting on invisible shoulders. For those wondering what has become of their highly discussed sex scene, the scene is cut out entirely. Though, as a consolation, folks overseas still get to witness Caitlyn cavalierly leaning against a wall, smirking, and telling Vi she’s become predictable.
China gives Arcane a different ending the world is not ready for.#ArcaneSeason2 #Arcane #ArcaneSpoilers pic.twitter.com/pafpzFVIfj
— Gavin (@gavinincinema) November 25, 2024
Arcane‘s overseas censorship of Caitvi, the series’ it couple, echoes a similar phenomenon: Nickelodeon censored the canonization of The Legend of Korra‘s Korrasami ship. Although the pairing was allowed to explicitly be a couple in subsequent comics, the show’s finale only showcased the start of their relationship by having them walk into a portal hand in hand. The situation is made all the more curious when you consider numerous regional Netflix social media accounts like Caitvi’s strongest soldier, Netflix Brasil, have been virtually shouting from the rooftop for years about the ship. That account even promoted a mural of the show’s final season with Caitlyn and Vi’s embrace as its centerpiece.
Despite the overseas censorship of queer content in Arcane diminishing the delight of witnessing one of the most successful video game adaptations ever to feature queer characters prominently, fans refuse to let it overshadow this significant milestone.
All episodes of Arcane‘s final season are streaming on Netflix.
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